This document provides an overview of child maltreatment and discusses its history. It describes how child abuse and neglect were more accepted historically. While still problematic, views shifted during the Enlightenment to see children as having basic rights. Research on child maltreatment is challenging due to issues like the co-occurrence of different types of abuse and the confounding effects of poverty, but it continues to grow our understanding of the topic.

1. CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND
PURPOSES

2. INTRODUCTION
• THE PURPOSE OF THIS TEXTBOOK IS TO PROVIDE YOU
WITH AN OVERVIEW OF CHILD MALTREATMENT. THIS
UMBRELLA TERM INCLUDES BOTH THE ABUSE AND
THE NEGLECT OF CHILDREN.
• CHILD ABUSE IS THE TERM USED FOR ACTS OF
COMMISSION—THINGS A PARENT OR CARETAKER
DOES TO A CHILD THAT ARE INAPPROPRIATE. CHILD
ABUSE CAN INCLUDE SUCH DIVERSE ACTS AS
BEATING, SEXUALLY ASSAULTING, OR VERBALLY
ABUSING A CHILD.
• IN EACH CASE, THE ADULT IS DOING SOMETHING TO

3. • CONVERSELY, CHILD NEGLECT IS THE TERM USED
FOR ACTS OF OMISSION— THINGS A PARENT OR A
CARETAKER FAILS TO DO FOR A CHILD WHEN
APPROPRIATE CARE WOULD REQUIRE THAT SUCH
THINGS BE DONE.
• CHILD NEGLECT CAN INCLUDE FAILURE TO PROVIDE
FOR A CHILD’S PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, MEDICAL, OR
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS.
• IN CASES OF CHILD NEGLECT, THE PARENT FAILS TO
PROVIDE FOR THE CHILD EVEN THE MINIMUM
NECESSARY FOR ADEQUATE CARE. TOGETHER, CHILD
ABUSE AND CHILD NEGLECT MAKE UP CHILD
MALTREATMENT

4. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHILD
MALTREATMENT
• ALTHOUGH WE DEFINITELY HEAR MORE ABOUT CHILD ABUSE
TODAY THAN WE DID IN THE PAST, THIS DOES NOT MEAN IT IS
A NEW PHENOMENON.
• THE PSYCHOHISTORIAN LLOYD DEMAUSE EDITED THE
HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD IN 1974, WHICH HE BEGAN WITH
THE NOW FAMILIAR QUOTATION:
THE HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD IS A NIGHTMARE
FROM WHICH WE HAVE ONLY RECENTLY BEGUN TO
AWAKE. THE FURTHER BACK IN HISTORY ONE GOES,
THE LOWER THE LEVEL OF CHILD CARE AND THE
MORE LIKELY CHILDREN ARE TO BE KILLED,
ABANDONED, BEATEN, TERRORIZED AND ABUSED.
DEMAUSE, 1974, P. 1

5. ANCIENT HISTORY
• HISTORICAL RESEARCH SEEMS TO SUPPORT THIS
RATHER GRIM STATEMENT. A STUDY OF ANCIENT
HISTORY REVEALS THAT INFANTICIDE (THE ACT OF
KILLING AN INFANT) WAS PRACTICED IN MANY
SOCIETIES.
• WHILE WE STILL USE THIS TERM TODAY, THERE ARE
TWO IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES TO NOTE BETWEEN
ANCIENT AND MODERN USAGE.
• FIRST, MODERN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS
DEFI NE INFANCY AS THE PERIOD COVERING ONLY THE
FI RST YEAR OR TWO OF LIFE (FARLEX, 2013). IN
ANCIENT TIMES, THE TERM INFANCY COVERED A MUCH
LONGER RANGE, BEING IDENTIFI ED AS THE PERIOD

6. • SECOND, WHEREAS INFANTICIDE IS CLEARLY
ILLEGAL TODAY, IN ANCIENT TIMES IT WAS OFTEN
CONDONED BY SOCIETY. THE HISTORIANS
TENBENSEL, RHEINBERGER, AND RADBILL (1997)
NOTED THAT IN ANCIENT TIMES CHILDREN DID NOT
HAVE THE RIGHT TO LIVE UNTIL THAT RIGHT WAS
BESTOWED ON THEM BY THEIR FATHER.
• IF THE FATHER WITHHELD THIS RIGHT, THEN THE
INFANTS WERE ABANDONED.
• REASONS FOR INFANTICIDE INCLUDED
POPULATION CONTROL, APPEASEMENT OF GOD(S)
AND LIMITATION OF FAMILY SIZE

7. MIDDLE AGES
• DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, LAWS FORBIDDING
INFANTICIDE WERE PASSED. IT IS NOT CLEAR
WHETHER THE LAWS WERE CAREFULLY ENFORCED,
BUT THE IDEA WAS TAKING HOLD THAT THE CHILD AT
LEAST HAD THE RIGHT TO LIVE.
• THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE MIDDLE AGES WERE
A GLORIOUS TIME FOR CHILDREN. THE WIDESPREAD
POVERTY OF THIS TIME MADE CHILDREN A LIABILITY.
THERE ARE HORRIFIC STORIES OF CHILDREN WHO
WERE SEVERELY MISTREATED BY THEIR PARENTS IN
ORDER TO BRING MORE MONEY INTO THEIR
HOUSEHOLD.

8. • SOME CHILDREN WERE ACTUALLY SOLD FOR PROFI
T BY THEIR OWN PARENTS. OTHER CHILDREN
WERE MUTILATED SO THAT THEY WOULD BE MORE
EFFECTIVE BEGGARS.
• ALTHOUGH WEALTHY STRANGERS MAY HAVE
TURNED THEIR BACK ON A HEALTHY CHILD WHO
WAS BEGGING IN THE STREETS, IT WAS HARDER
TO IGNORE A CHILD WHO WAS BLIND OR MISSING A
LIMB; THEREFORE, A CHILD WHO WAS INJURED OR
DEFORMED WAS LIKELY TO HAVE MORE SUCCESS
ON THE STREETS.

9. ENLIGHTENMENT
• IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE ENLIGHTENMENT THAT THINGS BEGIN TO
IMPROVE FOR CHILDREN IN TERMS OF THE GENERALLY
ACCEPTED VIEWS OF CHILD REARING.
• THE NEXT SHIFT IN HOW CHILDHOOD WAS VIEWED HAS BEEN
LARGELY ATTRIBUTED TO THE WRITINGS OF JOHN LOCKE AND
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU.
• LOCKE SAW CHILDREN AS TABULA RASA, WHICH MEANS BLANK
SLATE. LOCKE VIEWED CHILDREN NOT AS INNATELY FL AWED, BUT
SIMPLY AS BLANK OR NEUTRAL. IF CHILDREN ARE TABULAE
RASAE, THEN PARENTS AND TEACHERS NEED ONLY TO SHAPE
CHILDREN, TO MOLD THEM INTO WHATEVER IS GOOD.
• THIS WOULD SUGGEST THAT A KINDER, GENTLER PARENT AND
EDUCATOR WERE REQUIRED.

10. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
• THIS SHIFT IN THE VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE, FROM EVIL
TO NEUTRAL TO GOOD, DOES NOT MEAN THAT CHILDREN
HAVE BEEN TREATED GENTLY SINCE THE
ENLIGHTENMENT! IN FACT, SOME OF THE SADDEST
STORIES ABOUT THE MISTREATMENT OF CHILDREN
COME FROM THE 19TH CENTURY AND THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION.
• ALTHOUGH THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BROUGHT
RELIEF FROM HARD LABOR FOR MANY, IT WAS MERELY A
NEW AGE OF ABUSE FOR POOR CHILDREN WHO WERE
BROUGHT INTO THE LABOR FORCE.
• EVEN VERY YOUNG CHILDREN WERE FORCED TO WORK
LONG HOURS IN HORRIFI C CONDITIONS IN WHICH THEY
WERE EXPOSED TO OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS

11. PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS
RELATED TO CHILD MALTREATMENT
• AS THE PUBLIC AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM BEGAN TO
MOVE FORWARD IN CHILD PROTECTION, IT ALSO
BECAME AN AREA OF INTEREST FOR
PROFESSIONALS TO STUDY AND WRITE ABOUT.
• THE ARTICLE THAT TRULY SEEMED TO SPUR THE
RESEARCH IN THIS FIELD WAS “THE BATTERED-
CHILD SYNDROME.” THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN
1962 BY FIVE MEDICAL DOCTORS: KEMPE,
SILVERMAN, STEELE, DROEGEMUELLER, AND
SILVER, AND IT WAS PUBLISHED IN THE VERY WELL
RESPECTED JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL

12. PROBLEMS WITH SEPARATING
DIFFERENT FORMS OF
MALTREATMENT
• A FURTHER RESEARCH CONCERN ARISES WHEN WE WANT TO
COMPARE THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF MALTREATMENT. T
• AKE, FOR INSTANCE, A RESEARCHER WHO WANTS TO STUDY THE
IMPACT OF SEXUAL ABUSE, PHYSICAL ABUSE, EMOTIONAL ABUSE,
AND NEGLECT ON ATTACHMENT (THE EMOTIONAL BOND BETWEEN
CHILD AND CAREGIVER).
• THIS DESIGN ASSUMES THAT WE CAN IDENTIFY CHILDREN WHO
SUFFER FROM JUST ONE TYPE OF MALTREATMENT AND COMPARE
THEM TO OTHERS WHO SUFFER FROM ONE OTHER TYPE OF ABUSE.
IF A PARENT IS BEATING A CHILD, CAN WE TRULY SAY THERE IS NO
EMOTIONA
• L ABUSE INVOLVED? UNFORTUNATELY, AS YOU WILL LEARN
THROUGHOUT THIS TEXT, MANY CHILDREN SUFFER
SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM MULTIPLE TYPES OF ABUSE. HOWEVER,
GROUPING MALTREATED CHILDREN TOGETHER ALSO HAS ITS
DISADVANTAGES, AS A CHILD WHO IS RAPED IS LIKELY TO BE

13. EFFECTS OF MALTREATMENT MAY NOT
BE IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS
• ALSO, WHEN DETERMINING THE EFFECTS OF ABUSE, ONE NEEDS
TO CONSIDER TIMING. IMAGINE THAT A RESEARCHER IS
INTERESTED IN AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AMONG PRESCHOOL
BOYS WHO WERE THE VICTIMS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE.
• THIS RESEARCHER MAY MEASURE AGGRESSION AMONG BOYS
WHO COME TO THE ATTENTION OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
(CPS) WHEN THEIR ABUSE HAS BEEN DISCOVERED.
• IMAGINE FURTHER THAT HE FINDS NO DIFFERENCES IN
AGGRESSIVENESS BETWEEN THE PHYSICALLY ABUSED BOYS
AND A COMPARISON GROUP OF NONABUSED BOYS. DOES THIS
MEAN THE BOYS HAVE NOT LEARNED AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
FROM THEIR PARENTS? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT CHILDREN WHO ARE
NOT INITIALLY AGGRESSIVE AS A RESULT OF ABUSE MAY BECOME
AGGRESSIVE LATER IN LIFE WHEN THEY ARE PHYSICALLY
STRONGER?

14. DIFFI CULTY SEPARATING THE
EFFECTS OF POVERTY AND
MALTREATMENT
• YET ANOTHER CONCERN ABOUT THE RESEARCH ON
CHILD MALTREATMENT IS THE FACT THAT ABUSE IS
VERY OFTEN CONFOUNDED WITH POVERTY.
• THIS MEANS THAT MANY CHILDREN WHO ARE
IDENTIFIED AS VICTIMS OF MALTREATMENT ARE ALSO
LIVING IN POVERTY. THEREFORE, IF RESEARCHERS
FIND THAT MALTREATED CHILDREN EXHIBIT LANGUAGE
DELAYS, WE NEED TO KNOW IF THESE DELAYS ARE
DUE TO THE MALTREATMENT OR TO THE POVERTY.
• RESEARCHERS WORK TO CONTROL THIS PROBLEM BY
CAREFULLY SELECTING THEIR CONTROL

15. CONCLUSION
• ALTHOUGH THE MISTREATMENT OF CHILDREN IS NOT NEW, THE
FORMAL, PUBLIC STUDY OF IT HAS A RELATIVELY SHORT HISTORY,
AS DOES THE CONSISTENT, LEGAL RESPONSE.
• FURTHERMORE, EVEN THOUGH A NUMBER OF ISSUES MAKE
RESEARCH ON CHILD MALTREATMENT CHALLENGING, NONE OF
THEM STOPS RESEARCHERS FROM TRYING. ALTHOUGH PROGRESS
MAY SEEM FRUSTRATINGLY SLOW AT TIMES, A HISTORICAL CONTEXT
CAN HELP US MAINTAIN PERSPECTIVE.
• WE KNOW MORE TODAY ABOUT CHILD MALTREATMENT THAN WE
EVER HAVE, AND THE RESEARCH LITERATURE CONTINUES TO
GROW AT AN AMAZING RATE.

16. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• 1. YOU MAY HAVE HEARD NEWSCASTERS MAKING
STATEMENTS SUCH AS “OUR CHILDREN ARE AT A
GREATER RISK TODAY THAN EVER. THERE IS AN EPIDEMIC
OF CHILD ABUSE. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.” BASED ON
THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS CHAPTER, WOULD
YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE POINTS MADE BY
THE NEWSCASTER? WHY OR WHY NOT?

17. • 2. WHICH IS WORSE: CHILD ABUSE OR CHILD NEGLECT?
(RETURN TO THIS QUESTION AT THE END OF THE COURSE TO
SEE IF YOUR OPINION HAS CHANGED.)
• 3. OVER TIME, THERE HAS BEEN A TREND TOWARD MORE
GOVERNMENTAL INTERVENTION TO PROTECT CHILDREN. IS
THIS A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING?
• 4. SOME OF THE RESEARCH LIMITATIONS SEEN IN THIS FIELD
CAN BE OVERCOME, BUT OTHERS CANNOT (FOR ETHICAL
REASONS). DOES THIS MEAN WE SHOULD STOP ATTEMPTING
TO STUDY CHILD MALTREATMENT EMPIRICALLY? WHY OR
WHY NOT?
• 5. FIND A RECENT ARTICLE THAT DEALS WITH EITHER
PHYSICAL ABUSE OR NEGLECT. DOES THE RESEARCHER
CLEARLY DEFINE THE MALTREATMENT TERM? COMPARE THE
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION YOU FIND WITH THOSE FOUND BY
YOUR CLASSMATES. DID ALL OF THE RESEARCHERS USE THE
SAME DEFINITIONS? DISCUSS HOW USING DIFFERENT